Mother pleads innocent to killing her daughter

Mother pleads innocent to killing her daughter

ORLANDO, Fla. — The mother of a missing 3-year-old Florida girl has pleaded not guilty to charges that she killed her daughter.

Casey Anthony’s written plea was entered Wednesday, the day after a grand jury indicted her on charges of first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse, aggravated manslaughter and four counts of lying to investigators about the disappearance of her daughter, Caylee

Caylee has not been seen since June, but wasn’t reported missing until a month later. The child’s grandmother first called authorities in July to say that she hadn’t seen Caylee for a month and that her daughter’s car smelled like death.

Anthony, 22, said she spent the next month trying to find her daughter and didn’t call authorities because she was scared.

Anthony was born in Warren and moved with her parents and brother to Florida in 1989.

Hubble still not working

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA’s efforts to get the ailing Hubble Space Telescope working again have hit a snag, and engineers are trying to figure out their next step.

Officials had hoped to have the 18-year-old observatory back in business Friday, after it stopped sending pictures three weeks ago. But a pair of problems cropped up Thursday, and now recovery operations are on hold.

It’s unclear how long the telescope will be prevented from transmitting its stunning photos of the cosmos.

Rep. Fossella convicted of drunken driving

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Rep. Vito Fossella was convicted Friday of drunken driving in suburban Virginia, another blow from a late-night traffic stop that exposed secrets of his personal life and wrecked his career.

After a daylong trial at Alexandria General District Court, Judge Becky Moore found Fossella guilty of driving under the influence when he was pulled over for running a red light shortly after midnight on May 1. The arrest led to revelations that he had fathered a child from an extramarital affair, and he decided not to seek re-election. Fossella, New York City’s only Republican congressman, was first elected to the House in 1997.

The judge said she would hold a hearing Dec. 8 to determine if prosecutors had met the legal threshold for high blood-alcohol content, which would mean a mandatory five-day jail sentence.

Mahoney admits 2 affairs

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — U.S. Rep. Tim Mahoney, embroiled in an adultery scandal and a tight race for re-election, admitted Friday to having at least two affairs but insisted he broke no laws and will not resign.

The first-term Democrat conceded that one of the affairs began as he was running on a family values platform to replace Mark Foley, a Republican who resigned amid revelations that he sent lurid Internet messages to male pages who had worked on Capitol Hill as teenagers.

Mahoney, 52, apologized to his wife, his daughter and his constituents, even as he maintained he hadn’t been hypocritical.

2 protest supporters held in killing of U.S. journalist

MEXICO CITY — Two supporters of a protest movement in southern Mexico have been arrested in the 2006 fatal shooting of U.S. journalist-activist Bradley Roland Will, federal prosecutors said Friday.

A spokesman for the protesters — thousands of whom seized the city of Oaxaca for almost five months that year — denied the two were involved in the Oct. 27, 2006, shooting death of Will, who was filming a clash between protesters and gunmen when he was shot.

The 36-year-old Will was working for Indymedia.org at the time and was amid a throng of protesters on the outskirts of Oaxaca as they faced gunshots fired from some distance away by pro-government forces.

Prosecutors have said the shot that killed Will came from close range, and that an unidentified voice on his own video can be heard apparently demanding that he stop filming.

Zimbabwe talks hit a wall

HARARE, Zimbabwe — Zimbabwe’s opposition leader said Friday that four days of “intense” negotiations have failed to break the deadlock in power-sharing talks and called for intervention by regional and African leaders.

Morgan Tsvangirai addressed reporters after talks with President Robert Mugabe ended late Friday evening without resolving the impasse that has left Zimbabwe rudderless. Former South African President Thabo Mbeki has been mediating talks since Tuesday.

Associated Press